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The Legend of Korra on PS4: PlatinumGames Joins the Avatar

It’s no easy task to adapt the critically acclaimed animated series The Legend of Korra into a third-person action game. The beloved show fuses martial arts, varying philosophies and world cultures, and an exquisite story that follows in the footsteps of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

What better studio to take up the challenge than PlatinumGames (Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance)? The team has spent years meticulously crafting combat systems that marry style and substance into a visual maelstrom of fast, addictive action. And with Platinum’s knowledge of martial arts choreography, Korra couldn’t be in better hands. Revealed just yesterday, The Legend of Korra is coming to PS4 and PS3 this year. And we got to play it.

The Legend of Korra follows our rough-around-the-edges-but-ever-so-charming hero after the events of Book Two, but before the start of the upcoming Book Three. For those unfamiliar with the Avatar universe, Korra is the latest incarnation of a long, long line of peacekeepers meant to preserve order between four nations, as well as bridge the human world with the spirit world. At the start of The Legend of Korra game, Korra has suddenly lost her ability to bend (manipulate the elements) following a strange encounter with a shadowy force.

In the interest of avoiding spoilers, let’s just say the demo Platinum showed off revolves around Korra recovering her bending abilities, unlocking each element in turn — starting with waterbending.

The moment that Korra sets foot on Air Temple Island, it’s clear that Platinum has invested a great amount of energy into making this an authentic experience. While Korra and her opponents are rendered using cel-shaded visuals, the backgrounds are an eye-catching fusion of 3D set pieces and painted backdrops. The Legend of Korra runs smoothly even in its incomplete state, a key requirement for a combat-heavy game.

Korra’s ability to bend all four elements means that the player can harness four different fighting styles that each play a role on the battlefield. Korra can throw whips of water to attack chi blockers at a distance, or meet aggressive mobs with slow and powerful earthbending techniques.

The Square and Triangle buttons govern the different attacks, with each strike in a combination capable of an additional charge for extra damage. This system is easy to pick up but also provides more weathered gamers room to develop finesse — especially when it comes to counters.

In true Platinum fashion, hitting block at just the right moment will enable Korra to reverse an attack, leading to a spectacular counter move. Like Metal Gear Rising, these counters are snappy and satisfying, layering a much-appreciated need for precision on top of Korra’s moveset.

And what third-person, Platinum-developed action game would be complete without a few juicy RPG elements? Indeed, Korra can slowly level up each bending art to allow for more devastating abilities, from summoning whirlwinds to knocking boulders into the air. Special finishing techniques will also be purchasable from the in-game shop, which means gamers get a little loot spice for flavor.

Of course, Platinum has worked closely with the series creators in its effort for an authentic Avatar experience. One of the show’s lead writers helped script the story, and the actors behind Korra and the gang have returned to lend their voices to the characters. Platinum even went so far as to study martial arts reference material in order to best showcase the beauty and power behind bending.

Lastly, Platinum confirmed that a pro-bending mode has been fully recreated in The Legend of Korra, including the actual rules from the show. Take it as icing on the cake!

The Legend of Korra arrives on PS4 and PS3 this Fall, and will also feature a few surprises that “scream” PlatinumGames. Whatever that means, it’s probably amazing.

Looks good,,,I’ll definitely be keeping my eyes on this title! Started watching the last air bender series with my son and we got hooked! It’s an amazing story in an amazing world, looking forward 2 more of the story!

Hoping the storyline is great, with some surprise twists and turns. Also hoping that the game world is as rich as the world in the series. It’d be great to be able to traverse the world of the story and interact in the environments. Something along the lines of Naruto: The Broken Bond…just done better. :-)

Pro-bending sounds fun. Reading the article, I’m excited to give this a shot and I’m hoping Platinum gives it the attention & completeness it deserves but……

Looking at those screenshots (yes, the game is still incomplete – I know), I’m a little worried that this will turn out too much like the XB360 games that have been critically panned left & right.

The images above look insanely bland and lacking a level of detail & polish that the animated world of Korra ~usually~ contains. As beautiful as the RPG sections of Naruto Ninja Storm 2 were, I’m not getting that same “vibe” from Korra – all of the above pictures show low-res textures making up simplistic character models & empty rooms made up of 90-degree angles. Korra’s expression in the one shot makes it look like she’s constipated.

Games like this have a habit of coming with nasty release deadlines attached to them, and I cant imagine the Nickelodeon Netowork is going to take well to someone on the dev team saying “but, we need to bug test some more!”.

Okay Sony, I’m fed up with this nonsense. I’m not even THAT excited for this game, but to make an error like this TWICE (in the same freaking month) is absolutely inexcusable. If you would actually proof-read the things you post, you’d PROBABLY have a lot less people complaining. But nope, you decide to let people believe games are coming out on the Vita, then pretend it never happened after you finally spot the mistake. Realllllllllllll freaking classy………

“What better studio to take up the challenge than PlatinumGames”
Cyber Connect 2
Arc System Works Team Red

You guys have the gameplay even if MGRR had some weak points it was fun. However I haven’t seen anything to suggest the visual style can be hit and even less so that the story won’t be completely off the wall or be able to fit into the story of Korra. MGR was just completely nuts compared to MGS4 and I felt at times that too many liberties were taken. There were aspects of MGR I enjoyed, but it wasn’t metal gear. Vanquish while also an awesome game has had by far one of the weakest stories I’ve ever had the displeasure of sitting through. That’s without considering the terrible dialog.

Don’t get me wrong I’ll likely get this game as both Vanquish and MGR were very fun games to play, however I feel the other part of the experience (music,story telling, visual style) will some how suffer in light of that. Please don’t let me down. I believe Platinum has what it takes to make a truly awesome game, just don’t fall short on this.

Wow. The first thing I want to say is THANK YOU FOR MAKING A LEGEND OF KORRA GAME. Legend of korra is the best animated series ever and it deserves a lot more credit than it gets. I always wanted a great The last airbender/Korra game, but its seems like nobody wants to do a GREAT game because its a nickelodeon show and thats a shame. I hope this sells well enough for a good developer to get interested in doing a triple A LEGEND OF KORRA GAME!!! But this is a good start.

I cant believe they’re finally making a game in the series, I hope its accurate in the storyline because I have played other titles for the Last Airbender series and they were huge letdowns. Don’t get me wrong the gameplay was awesome but the storyline compaired to the show was a bummer because they had so much information that did not need to be put in the game.

“backgrounds are an eye-catching fusion of 3D set pieces and painted backdrops”

will the game support 1080p stereoscopic 3D on PS4? there really needs to be more 3dTV-supporting games like Trine 2 and Zen Pinball 2, which both look AMAZING on PS4. I was really surprised that Flower on PS4 didn’t support stereoscopic 3D.

This looks sick. I’m still going for 100% on Vanquish. Revengeance will be tacked after that. I just love crazy action games. I hope Platinum ports remastered Bayonetta 1 , to PS4! Oh, and please continue with support of the Vita!I ‘m getting another one soon, to replace my gifted old unit. There are some great titles, that I’m looking forward to.

I’ve been waiting a long while for a solid Avatar game and this looks like it’s the one. I’m excited to see the game developers working with the series creators. I’m excited to see this as a success and spawn more games of the series. Maybe even a fighting game.

Everything that was aid in this article makes this game looks really promising and I can’t wait for a release date. I have a few questions if you don’t mind me asking, will there be cross buy between the PS3 and PS4, how long will the game be and will there be online and local multiplayer in the pro bending mode?